


I Don't Know If I Will Survive

by Dean_loves_Cas_forever



Series: Supernatural Crossovers (Cas/Dean) [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Supernatural
Genre: A FNAF Story But With SPN Characters And YouTubers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Blood and Violence, Breaking and Entering, Childhood Friends, Dean Winchester is Protective of Castiel, Flashbacks, Friends to Lovers, Horror, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Investigations, Kidnapping, M/M, Minor Character Death, No Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Phil, Secrets, Slow Build Castiel/Dean Winchester, Slow Burn Dan Howell/Phil Lester, Swearing, Teenagers, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 14:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15843060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dean_loves_Cas_forever/pseuds/Dean_loves_Cas_forever
Summary: Dan, Cas and their friends always knew that something more was going on at their favourite pizzeria. When James and Elijah went missing, they were too young for anyone to listen to them. Now, 10 years later, they're back to investigate but, perhaps, they're in over their heads when it comes to the secrets of the pizzeria.(Just give it a shot)





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I know that this won't be read by many people but I wanted to put the prologue up at least. This story isn't finished yet so only the prologue is going up for now but let me know how you feel about it (good things please, I'm sensitive)
> 
> Title- Roaring 20's, Panic at the Disco

Castiel grinned as he entered the familiar pizzeria; he took in the sight of the uniform tables, the checkered pattern of the floor and borders on the walls, the metallic clinking of the small themepark-esque rides and arcade games, the smell of pizza and, finally of course, the three main animatronics. He quickly ran off to his usual table, his little legs carrying him unsteadily towards the bench seat. His father, Chuck, watched him with a fond smile and moved to place Elijah, Castiel's little brother, in the highchair at their table before moving through the wooden door that was a few feet away from Castiel's table, but he returned after a few seconds.

"Watch your brother for a moment, Castiel, I need to open the main doors. Your friends will be here soon." His father murmured softly with a hand gently cupping the back of the boy's head, running his fingers through his son's wavy hair.

"Yes daddy." Castiel replied dutifully, keeping his eyes on his baby brother. His father smiled at him, he was proud of his six year old, he was such a good brother and never forgot about his brother when he was with his friends. Castiel lost himself in a world of babbling to his brother about what they were going to do with his friends today. Elijah grinned at his big brother and mumbled back with half sentences and made up words. Castiel smiled, letting his eyes wander to the large animatronics on the stage. His father had told him that they were about 7 feet but he didn't know what that meant, he just knew they were massive in comparison to his small frame. He loved them; he loved the colours, he loved their songs, he loved the way they looked, he loved that his father had created them.

"Bear!" Elijah exclaimed pointing at the brown bear standing centre stage.

"That's Freddy, Eli!" Castiel corrected with a small smile. Elijah tilted his head and tried the name a few times. "And that's Bonnie." Castiel continued pointing to the purple bunny on the left of Freddy.

"Bunny." Elijah tried. Castiel laughed and patiently corrected him. "Duck?" Castiel shook his head, he'd had this conversation with his brother before but his father had reminded him that Elijah was only 2 and was learning things.

"That's Chica the Chicken." Castiel reminded him. Elijah tested it out but he couldn't quite wrap his tongue around it so he soon gave up and occupied himself with the little mechanical dinosaur his father had made him.

"Cas!" Said an excited voice coming towards him. Castiel turned to the voice and grinned. Running towards his table was his best friend and his best friend's little brother.

"Dean!" Castiel replied. He jumped off the bench seat and ran towards his friend with open arms. Elijah looked up to watch his brother and Dean embrace and cheered happily when he saw Sam, Dean's baby brother. Cas leant back in Dean's arms and looked up at the older boy. "Do you know when the others are getting here?" Dean took Sam's hand and lead the younger boy to the seat next to Elijah before turning to answer his friend.

"My mom said that Mark and Charlie were coming after lunch and that Dan, Phil and James were coming soon." Dean answered. Cas nodded seriously and looked at their brother's.

Castiel father came out of the storage room and smiled.

"Hello Dean, Sam." He greeted kindly.

"Hi, Mr Chuck." Dean returned with a smile. Cas' father's face softened affectionately.

"You boys can go play now." He said. Cas' smile widened and he grabbed Dean's hand before charging towards the arcade games. They played on the games for a while but they eventually found themselves in the costume storage room as they waited for their other friends.

Other people may have found it odd to find the boys sat comfortably in a room full of endoskeletons, metal body parts and empty suits but they found it fascinating. Cas had grown up with stray pieces of metal around the house and loved to watch his father work in his workshop, so sitting in the costume storage room was like being back home.

When Chuck opened the door to the storage room, Dean and Cas were leaning against each other talking about what they were going to do that weekend for their weekly sleepover.

"Hey, boys. Dan, Phil and James are here. They're at your table with Sammy and Eli." He said softly, so as to not disturb the peaceful atmosphere in the room. The boys rushed out the room into the main showroom. They greeted their friends with hugs then they all headed to Pirate Cove with their little brother's. They danced with Foxy for a bit before the older boys decided they should go and find Golden Freddy and Golden Bonnie. Dean and Phil were older than Cas and Dan by two years so they and their brothers-Elijah, James and Sam who were 2, 3 and 4 respectively- tended to follow them happily and let them make the major decisions, such as where they were going play and what they would do next once everyone had gotten bored. Cas, Dean and Dan took their brother's hands as they walked around the pizzeria to find the golden animatronics.

"I found him!" Phil exclaimed happily when he happened across the golden bear.

"Hi Freddy!" The boys shouted together. The Golden Freddy waved at them over-enthusiastically. Cas looked up at the large mascot and tilted his head to the side curiously.

His father had designed and created all of the animatronics and the suits so Cas knew exactly how all of them worked and all of the specific design details each animatronic and suit had. With this, he knew that the bear in front of him was one of the special suits his father had made. There were only two of them, Golden Freddy and Golden Bonnie, and his father had told him that they were extra special but also dangerous because of the springlocks. Chuck had told him that the springlocks had to be operated by someone who'd been trained to use them and they had to be maintained carefully, otherwise they could be dangerous and badly hurt someone. His father hadn't gone into detail but it had scared Cas enough when his father had demonstrated with a single springlock, the quick click and snap of the small metal device was enough to deter him from messing with it. He also knew that the golden suits were the very first large animatronics that his father had made, he'd been around the golden suits for as long as he could remember.

They played around with Golden Freddy, singing and dancing happily until lunchtime. They all scrambled back to their table can conversed happily while they ate, their parents briefly stopped by to check on them but they were soon dismissed by the young boys.

Once their stomachs were full, they turned to the stage to watch the show. All of them watched awestruck as the animatronics went through their routine, despite all of them having seen it regularly.

Dean and Phil decided that after the show had finished they would all go outside to play since Mark and Charlie had arrived while the show was on and that they now had enough people to play their game.

After what felt like hours later, they ran back indoors to see who could get the high score on the arcade games while Elijah, James and Sam played in the ball pit next to them. They quickly became immersed in the game, cheering each other on to do well and focusing on the game as well as a child could.

"Let's go on the planes! So that Jimmy, Eli and Sammy can come too." Dan suggested after everyone had had a turn on the game, he felt bad that their brothers couldn't join in on the big games yet. Cas, Dean and Phil agreed wholeheartedly while Mark and Charlie reluctantly parted with the game. It wasn't that they didn't want to go on the planes with all of their friends, it was just that they had been winning and wanted to keep going, but their guilt over the youngest members of the group not being able to play the game overwhelmed their want to keep winning. They turned to the ball pit and stopped short.

"Where's Jimmy?" Charlie asked. Elijah and Sam shrugged, they'd been too distracted with the brightly coloured balls in front of them. The older children looked around the arcade room for the young boy but came up short. Charlie stepped around the ball pit to look behind some of the games and out the door but she saw nothing.

"Sammy, did you see where Jimmy went?" Dean asked. His brother was comfortable with his friends but he was more likely to answer his big brother. Meanwhile, Dan was panicking.

"We need to find him, guys!" He exclaimed loudly. The group agreed and hurried Elijah and Sam out of the pit. Cas and Dean held their brothers hands tightly and followed the others in the search for James.

After searching all of the rooms, they resorted to looking for an adult. All of the adults sat in an area at the front of the pizzeria out of the way.

"Wait, I don't want to tell mummy yet." Dan said shaking his head. Mark wrapped his arm around the younger boy.

"We gotta tell your mom, Dan." He said calmly. But Dan just shook his head again.

"She'll get mad at me for losing him." Dan insisted. Dean, Phil, Mark and Charlie frowned at each other, as the older ones in the group they needed to come to a choice before Dean and Phil could finalise it.

"Ok, Danny, we'll keep looking." Phil relented. Dan gave the older boy a small smile. Cas and Dean's hands tightened on their brothers slightly.

"Let's go and ask Golden Bonnie to help!" Cas said. He had seen it in suit mode so the person inside could help them. Everyone agreed and they set off to find the golden bunny.

"You've got to help us, Bonnie!" Dan shouted upon finding the bunny. Golden Bonnie turned to the group and momentarily froze, as though it hadn't been expecting them to talk to him. Cas scowled at the animatronic and tilted his head to the side. He could see the man inside of the suit but the man didn't look right, not like the man in the Golden Freddy suit. He quickly turned to Dean and relayed his thought to the other, who then whispered it to the other elders in the group. While the boys had been whispering, the Golden Bonnie had regained himself and responded to Dan's shout with a tilt of his large head. "My baby brother, Jimmy, has gone missing!" Dan exclaimed panicky. Charlie wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. Golden Bonnie gestured for them to follow him, which they did albeit reluctantly. He lead them around the pizzeria again, indicating for them to check everywhere, even the smallest, most unlikely places but they did anyway, they needed to find James.

"How about we ask our parents if they've seen him and if they ask why we say that we were playing hide and seek but Jimmy is doing real good hiding?!" Dean asked excitedly. The group nodded and split up to ask their parents. Cas ran with Elijah to their table.

"Stay here, Eli. I gotta ask Daddy if he's seen Jimmy." Cas said to his brother after plonking the little boy on the bench seat. Eli nodded once which made Cas smile softly, he kissed his brothers forehead then turned to the wooden door by their table. Cas tentatively knocked on his father's office door and waited patiently for his father to answer.

"Are you having fun, angel?" Chuck asked after letting his son into his office.

"Yes. Daddy, have you seen Jimmy?" Cas asked. Chuck frowned and shook his head.

"No, the last I saw him was when I came to get you and Dean earlier, when they arrived. Why? What's wrong?" He asked, he tried to keep his concern out of his tone so he didn't alarm his son.

"Nothing! We're playing hide and seek but Jimmy is real good at hiding." Cas said as nonchalantly as a 6 year old could. Chuck raised his eyebrow incredulously but nodded his ok. He bent down and pressed a kiss to Cas' head before gently leading Cas out of the office. Cas grinned back at his father as the elder shut the door then turned to his table where he had put his brother down. But Elijah wasn't there. He'd gone. In a panic, Cas ran around the pizzeria frantically looking for Elijah, he didn't want to draw attention to himself by shouting out but he soon resorted to looking for his friends, hoping one of them had seen Elijah. He found his friends in Pirate's Cove, quietly talking next to Foxy's stage. "Guys!" Cas exclaimed running up to them.

"Cas, did your dad know where Jimmy had gone?!" Dan asked desperately. Cas shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to hold back tears.

"Cas, what's wrong?" Phil asked, noticing how the younger boy was acting.

"Eli, he... he's gone too!" Cas cried. Dean rushed forward to gather Cas into his arms. Charlie gasped and rested her head in her hands.

"But where could they have gone?! They never leave our sides." Mark insisted. The boys shook their heads.

"I don't know." Dan said softly. Dean and Phil looked at each other then at Cas.

"Cas, you said that Golden Bonnie didn't look right." Dean said. Cas nodded slowly. Phil nodded too then took Cas and Dan's hands before leading them all towards the adults.

"Bonnie took Jimmy and Eli." Sam blurted out. The adults looked at them fondly and shook their heads.

"I'm sure they're just playing in the ball pit." Dean's mum, Mary, said reassuringly. Sam shook his head vigorously, as did Dan and Cas.

"No, mom, Cas said that Bonnie didn't look right." Dean insisted.

"And Cas knows if they look right or not." Mark said definitively. The parents looked at each other, concern was starting to show in their eyes. Their children genuinely seemed to be worried that James and Elijah were missing and they rarely messed around if real concern could be raised.

"Were did you see them last?" Dan's mum, Sarah, asked.

"Jimmy was in the ball pit with Sammy and Eli." Charlie said. The parents nodded seriously.

"What about Eli?" Phil's dad, Aaron, questioned.

"He was outside Daddy's office." Cas replied.

"But Golden Bonnie took him!" Sam shouted. Mark wrapped his arm around Sam's shoulder. Sam's shout alerted the attention of the other parents in the pizzeria, who started to mutter amongst themselves hoping that their own children hadn't heard.

"Sam, Golden Bonnie has never been in suit mode in this building. Only Golden Freddy can walk around." Charlie's mum, Holly, said. The little group looked at each other and shook their heads. They stomped back to their table, their parents would see.

Cas looked at the door that lead to the Golden animatronics stage, his father hadn't told him that Golden Bonnie was only in animatronic mode and they'd definitely gone to him for help. Dean wrapped his arm around Cas' shoulders, as Phil had done with Dan while the others crowded around them in a group hug, Sam was safely packed in the centre of the older kids.

"We'll find them." Charlie said.

Cas wasn't so sure. He watched as the Golden Bonnie stood in the doorway of his showroom, staring straight at them with an impossible evil grin, before he backed into the room, closing the door slowly.

What did this mean for them?


	2. 10 Years Later...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just felt like giving anyone who reads this a feel of the rest of the story by uploading another chapter, don't expect another chapter so soon though

_Welcome to Lawrence, Kansas. Please Drive Safely._  

Cas took a deep, steadying breath as he crossed the town's border. He hadn't wanted to return but he knew he had to. His father had told him that another series of tragedies had hit Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and he needed to return, Chuck hadn't told him why though. After Elijah and James had gone missing, parents had begun to feel that the pizzeria was no longer safe for their children so the restaurant had eventually closed due to lack of business. However, a few years later, the restaurant had reopened with brand new animatronics that had facial recognition linked to the criminal databases. This knowledge seemed to reassure the parents and business had sky rocketed once again. Clearly though, something had gone wrong.

He navigated his way down the familiar roads until he pulled down a familiar drive. He parked his car in front of the garage, turned off the ignition then slumped back in his seat. A lump started to form in his throat as he looked up at the old house.

His childhood home.

It was surrounded by dense trees, isolated from the rest of the town. Cas looked around briefly, eyeing the treeline, then he grabbed his phone, keys and bag and got out of the car. He slowly made his way up the steps of the wrap around porch. He unlocked the door and stepped into the cold house. He didn't bother announcing his arrival to the silence, he knew his father wasn't there, instead he went straight for the thermostat and turned the heating on. A low rumble and clunk filled the silence as the old heating system turned on and worked to warm the house. Cas dropped his bag on the sofa and his keys on the coffee table before approaching the TV to see if it worked, his father had assured him that everything in the house still worked and was being paid for but it didn't hurt to double check. His father had bought a new house in the centre of town when he was 8 and bought new everything to fill it, so everything in his childhood home was frozen in time, with the exception of updated technology. Despite not having set foot in this house in 6 years, he felt like he was finally home but there was still a heavy feeling in his heart. Cas walked up the creaking stairs to the first floor of the house, he completely ignored the first three doors and headed down the hall to the room at the far end of the house. The wooden door creaked open and the floorboards beneath his feet whined under his weight.

His old bedroom, like the rest of the house, was exactly as he remembered. He glanced around fondly, his eyes fell on the buttons and cranks littered around the room. He moved towards his old bed, letting his fingers running over the bookcase and desk. He perched on the bed and looked around again before looking at the wardrobe across from him. The wardrobe was like any other small walk in wardrobe but the little trapdoor next to it was out of the ordinary. The trapdoor was a foot wide and a foot high, it looked like the other doors in the house. Cas reached down the side of his bed and turned the crank hidden there then watched as the trapdoor opened and allowed the little figures to roll out on their track. The figures were mini versions of Freddy, Bonnie and Chica, the first versions in fact. They stuttered with disuse momentarily then the tinny music started, the figures danced as Freddy's song played, filling the room. Cas gave them a small smile and let them continue their song as he pressed the button next to the crank. A low whirring sound came from his bedside table then the front lowered to reveal his plush Fred Bear. He pulled the bear out and ran his fingers through its soft fur. He lifted his hand and pushed Fred Bear's hat down. Like the figures, it stuttered for a few seconds then it began talking. _I love you, my little angel_ , it said in his father's voice. Tears welled up in his eyes but he shook them away. He quickly turned the crank until the Freddy figures were safely shut behind the trapdoor then carried Fred Bear with him as he retreated downstairs. He was lovingly placing Fred Bear on the armchair when his phone pinged loudly, startling him. He laughed at himself and picked up his phone to read the notification.

**Family 2.0 _: Mark: Cas, we're just waiting for you. (Seen by: everyone)_**

Cas smiled and shook his head. He quickly replied, grabbed his keys and wallet then headed back out of the door. On the drive to the restaurant where his friend's were waiting for him, he had to drive passed the now closed Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The windows were boarded up and the door was chained shut but the paint was still vibrant and the outside play area looked like it was in good condition, then again, Cas didn't know how long it had been closed for. He quickly looked away and carried on driving.

He pulled into the car park in between the familiar black Impala and the white Hyundai he knew belonged to the older boys in their group. He got out of the car and locked it then looked through the large window of the restaurant. He found his friends sat at a large table further in the back. A wave of anxiety flowed through him, sure, they were his best friends and he spoke to them everyday, but he hadn't seen them in person in a few years. He took a moment to familiarise himself with his friends faces.

Dan's messy, once blonde, hair was now brown and neatly parted on the right, the sides were buzz cut and his neat curls rested on his forehead. His face had lost the childish chub, now he had a defined jawline and prominent cheekbones. He also seemed to tower over the others in the group, Phil and Dean seem to be around the same height if only a few inches shorter than the younger boy.

Phil had aged in a similar manner to Dan, his short mousy brown hair was now black and parted on the left, his sides were also buzz cut. His baby fat had also dissolved into angular features. He had thick framed glassed perched on his nose too.

Mark hadn't changed as much as Dan and Phil, rather his childish features had just become more manly and his short hair had become floppy and longer, he'd dyed the tips on his fringe a vibrant red. His once scrawny frame had now built up muscle and form.

Charlie had grown to be a beautiful girl, her bright red hair framed her pale face. Her taste in movies and books clearly hadn't changed if her t-shirt was anything to go by.

Dean's features had become angular too. His slight childhood chub had disappeared during puberty, he'd built up muscle too, his t-shirt tight around his chest and arms. His dirty blonde hair was now short on the sides and slightly longer on top.

There was a young boy sat next to Dean. He had long brown hair that flopped over his eyes. He looked like he was young, 14 perhaps. _Of course, that's Sam_ , Cas thought to himself. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second while he regained himself. After he'd composed himself, he made his way into the restaurant.

"Cas!" Dan spotted him first, a wide, dimpled smile on his face. His deep voice threw Cas for a second but he remembered that all of his friends will have gone through puberty now, not just him. They all stood and greeted him with hugs then they returned to the table where they ordered their food before catching up.

"Have you seen the restaurant?" Charlie asked Cas after a bout of silence. Cas nodded slowly.

"Yeah, on my way here. Do any of you know what happened?" Cas asked. He knew his father would tell him but he wanted to see what his friends would say.

"Dan and I only got back from England a year ago." Phil said. Cas frowned and tilted his head to the side.

"I just broke up for summer last month." Charlie added. Cas raised his eyebrows in shock, but he was proud, he wasn't that surprised that Charlie had started college a year early.

"I was visiting family." Mark commented.

"They've been keeping details out of the papers, it just said that it was shutting down again." Dean said after a moment. Cas looked down at his food in silence.

"You and Dan only got back a year ago?" Cas questioned, realising what had bothered him earlier.

"Yeah, it had been closed for like 2 years before we got back." Dan said. Cas frowned and shook his head.

"What?" Cas was immensely confused. "It's been closed for 3 years?!"

"Yeah, thought you knew that." Dean said. Phil and Dean exchanged a look, slipping seamlessly into their roles as the elders of the group. Cas felt more inclined to listen to them now though, as they were 18 and were more knowledgeable than their 16 and 17 year old friends.

"No, dad called me a few weeks ago and said that I needed to come as soon as I would because the pizzeria had shut down again, that I might be able to help." Cas recalled.

"Do you think they have any leads on Eli and Jimmy?" Sam asked, his voice low and timid. Upon hearing the names of their lost brothers, Dan and Cas slumped slightly, sadly. The group had a moment of silence, remembering the boys.

"I doubt it, Sammy." Cas finally spoke for them, still as pessimistic as when he was 6. "It's been a cold case for 10 years, the likelihood of finding a missing person alive decreases after 72 hours. Even if we do find them, they aren't alive." Cas continued grimly. The light atmosphere of the table darkened instantly.

"I know, but they could be." Sam retorted defiantly. Cas huffed humourlessly.

"Keep that faith, Sammy." Cas murmured with a sad smile. They fell into another sad silence, not daring to look at each other. The waitress cleared away their plates quickly and hurried away without a word.

"Why don't we go and check it out?" Mark suggested. Everyone turned their gazes to him.

"What?" Phil questioned.

"Why don't we go and look in the pizzeria?" Mark reiterated. They frowned slightly.

"Break in?" Dan asked. Mark shook his head.

"It's not breaking in if we have the son of the guy who owns the place." He insisted. They sat in thought, Dean opened his mouth to speak but got cut off by Cas.

"Let's do it."

  
\----

  
After making arrangements to meet later in the day, the group split apart, going their separate ways to busy themselves to fill the time. Cas stood by his car as Mark and Charlie got into Phil's car and watched them drive away. Next to him, he heard the car door squeaking and slamming shut.

"Cas?" Dean said softly. Cas turned to face the older boy and nodded in acknowledgment. "Are you sure you want to go to Freddy's tonight?" Dean asked, his voice was soft, concerned. Cas smiled fondly at Dean's question, a familiar feeling setting in his heart.

"Yes, Dean, I'm sure. Thank you." Cas reassured. Dean pursed his lips slightly, as though he didn't believe the other but didn't want to say anything, then nodded slowly. With a tight but genuine smile, Dean tapped on the hood of his car twice and slid into the driver's seat. Cas watched him pull away too with a little wave. Once the black car was out of sight, he leant forward and rested his forehead on his car. He had missed his friends greatly, even though he'd spoken to them frequently. Cas smiled to himself and got into the car.

Cas pulled into the driveway behind his father's car and sighed, turning off the ignition and pulling the keys out in a swift movement, he didn't want to waste any time delaying the inevitable. He took a deep breath as he pushed the front door open.

"Hey dad." Cas called out into the quiet house. From deeper in the house, he heard rustling and a string of cuss words, making him chuckle to himself. Seconds later his father emerged from his study.

"Hello, Castiel. How was your drive here?" Chuck asked, pulling his son into a hug.

"It was alright." Cas answered noncommittally. Chuck nodded and lead them to the couch. "Dad, Freddy's has been closed for 3 years." Cas said accusingly after a moment of silence between them. Chuck sighed but nodded, his head hung in shame. He fiddled with his fingers as he spoke.

"Yeah, it has. There was a series of... incidents." Chuck explained vaguely. Cas frowned and shook his head angrily.

"I'm not the general public, Dad, just tell me what happened." Cas snapped.

"It happened again." Cas opened his mouth to argue again but stopped when he saw his father's grimace. Cas watched, confused, as Chuck's eyes became red and wet, his father very rarely showed emotion so openly. The last time he'd seen his father cry was... "4 more kids have gone missing." There were the dreaded words. Cas exhaled slowly in shock. He never though he'd hear those words again.

"Do they have any idea as to who did it?" Cas asked bitterly. Chuck shrugged and wiped his eyes.

"Some witnesses, kids, are saying that they saw Golden Bonnie near the victims before they went missing," Cas gritted his teeth, his nostrils flaring angrily. He shook his head and turned away from his father, "but the golden suits were locked away years ago! After the springlocks failed and that kid died."

"So you're telling me that there are 5 more dead kids on our heads because you didn't listen to us." Cas asked lowly.

"They aren't dead, Castiel." Chuck bit out. Cas laughed humourlessly.

"They've been gone for 10 years!" He exclaimed.

"There's still a chance!" Cas shook his head in disbelief. They sat in tense silence as they tried to calm themselves down.

"Why did you call me down?" Cas asked, keeping his voice level.

"Because you kept saying that Golden Bonnie didn't look right," Chuck murmured. "but only Fred Bear was ever in suit mode after the Diner."

"It was definitely Golden Bonnie, Dad, and he didn't look right." Cas insisted.

"But what do you mean?" Chuck inquired, almost desperately. Cas looked out of the window as he remembered that day; the way Golden Bonnie had frozen, the look on his face, that impossible smile.

"He... was surprised, to have us acknowledge him, and I could see his face, I could always see their faces. Fred Bear always seemed happy to be doing his job but Golden Bonnie seemed... disgusted but pleased at the same time, like he was happy that we were confiding in him. Thinking back, the look on his face was disturbing." Cas recalled. Chuck frowned at Cas' description, he couldn't put the pieces together yet.

"Well it's not like loads of people know how to use the springlock suits." Chuck disclosed with a sheepish smile. Cas huffed and shook his head, a small smile made his way onto his lips. "I don't blame you, you know?" Chuck told Cas, his voice soft and fond. Cas frowned and tilted his head to the side, confused. His father reached over and took Cas' hand in his own. Cas noticed the plethora of scars and calloused skin on his father's hand from decades of drawing blueprints and working with metal.

"Don't blame me for what?" Cas asked. Chuck shook his head fondly at his son's obliviousness.

"I know you blame yourself, or have blamed yourself, for Elijah going missing but I have never and would never blame you for that." Chuck elaborated. A lump rose in Cas' throat and tears burnt his eyes. "I love you, angel, and nothing will change that." A stray tear fell down Cas' face and he gave his father a watery smile.

"I love you too, Dad." Cas croaked. Chuck pulled his son into a hug and held on tight. Cas melted into his father's arms and released a shaky breath. After a few minutes, Chuck leant back and affectionately wiped Cas' tears away before pressing a gentle kiss to Cas' forehead.

"Anyway, come and look at this."

\----

Cas left his father's house feeling that his previously strained relationship with his father had improved.

He briefly stopped by his old home to get changed before meeting his friends. As he was heading down the stairs to leave, he stopped. He turned back to the three closed doors on the landing and climbed the steps again. He inched towards the middle door and paused, he lifted his hand slowly to place it on the wood but he left his hand hovering millimeters above it.

"I'm sorry, Eli." He whispered then he shook his head before leaning his forehead on the door and pressing his hand down. "It wasn't my fault." With that, he turned abruptly and hurried down the stairs, only stopping to lock the door.

The sun was beginning to fall behind the trees when Cas pulled up to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. His friends were already waiting for him by their cars, they'd parked in the spaces that were furthest from the building- which Cas found illogical because if they had to run then their cars would be further from them. With a shake of his head, Cas got out of his car and approached his friends. Dean looked at him in question when the younger boy came to a stop in front of them, asking if he was still ok to go in, Cas nodded and gave Dean a small smile.

"So how are we getting in?" Mark asked, clapping his hands together to break the silence. Dan turned to Mark slowly with his eyebrow raised incredulously.

"Are you telling us that you came up with this idea but didn't have a plan in the way of actually getting in?!" Dan lectured in shock. Mark chuckled nervously and nodded.

"I assumed Cas would have a way in?" He tried, though it came out as a question rather than a statement.

"You assumed that I, someone who had no idea that the pizzeria had been closed for so long and only found out what actually happened today, would have a way to get into it?" Cas queried sarcastically. Dan and Charlie laughed softly as Mark shrugged timidly with a little smile while Dean and Phil observed the building in front of them. It was only one floor but it was big, and every window had been boarded. Without a word, the older boys moved away from the group to survey their options.

"What?" Charlie questioned when they realised that they'd walked away. "I hate when they do that." She sighed. The boys laughed at her but turned to watch Dean and Phil. Phil approached the main doors and took the chain and padlock into his hand.

"We'd need tools to break that open." Dean muttered to him. Phil nodded in confirmation then dropped the chain. Dean lead the way around the perimeter, checking every board-covered window, until he reached the outside play area. They jumped over the fence to check the back door. "It's a fire exit, not chained but locked. If we can get in this time then we can unlock it and close up the way we come in. Leave this open." Dean suggested. Phil nodded, he stepped forward and pressed his face against the cool glass of the door, his hands cupping around his eyes so he could see better. It was understandably dark within the building as he peered in but his eyes were drawn to the light streaming in from deeper within, behind the show-stage.

"There's an opening somewhere." Phil said to Dean, stepping back to point into the dark.

"There shouldn't be." Dean frowned. He looked through the window, looking for the light, then scowling when he found it, trying to figure out where it was coming from. "Arcade room?" Phil furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"It could be." In a silent agreement, they turned from the door to hop the fence again. The arcade room, along with the kitchen and the storage room, jutted out from the main rectangle shape of the building. They checked each of the boards carefully, seeing if any of them were loose. "Dean," Phil called out softly. "this one's hanging off, the window is open." Dean jogged over to the window Phil was stood in front of. The black haired boy tried to tug on the wood to move it away from the window but found he wasn't strong enough, it was shifting slightly but the nails weren't coming loose.

"Let me try, it's getting dark, we need to move faster." Dean cautioned. He braced his hands on the corners around the nail, he took a deep breath before he pulled as hard as he could. His biceps tensed and shook as the nail slowly slid out of the wall. He let out a deep breath when the nail finally came loose, he released the wood panel. It swung down, hitting the floor, held up by the single nail still in it.

"Come on, we just need to go and unlock the fire exit to let the others in, we can fix that later." Dean rushed out as he pulled himself up onto the window ledge. Phil nodded and followed Dean through the window. The sound of their feet hitting the floor echoed throughout the quiet building ominously. They hurried out of the arcade room and made their way across the main showroom to the fire exit on the opposite end of the show-stage. Dean made quick work of flicking the lock and pushing it open. Dean held the door for Phil but the other had paused. "Phil, we gotta get the others." Dean insisted. Phil shushed the other and looked around the dark room suspiciously, he felt eyes on him, he looked at the animatronics on stage then laughed at himself quietly. Of course they were facing the way they should be. Phil shook his head dismissively and followed Dean out the door.

"You guys have been gone for ages, what were you doing back there?" Charlie asked when the older boys came back to the cars. They'd all taken to sitting on the hoods of the cars, fiddling with the flashlights Charlie had brought them.

"We were opening the fire exit." Dean explained. They hopped off the cars and followed the boys to the outside play area. Dean and Phil jumped the fence, Mark followed easily but the others stopped.

"You want us to jump a fence?" Cas asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Come on, princess, we climbed through a window so you wouldn't have to, you can hop the fence." Dean said. Cas scowled halfheartedly, his cheeks flushing delicately.

"There's a gate there, Dean." Cas said pointing to the gate on the far side of the play area. Everyone turned to look for the gate then turned to Dean and Phil with smug smiles. Dean rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as he looked at, but he noticed the chain tying it to the fence.

"The gate is locked too, genius, now hop over the damn fence." Dean countered. He gave the younger boy a cheeky grin which caused Cas to stick his tongue out at the boy.

"Come on, ladies. It's getting really dark out here." Charlie observed before stepping forward and climbing over the fence.

"Yeah, I want to be on that side of the fence in the dark." Dan commented sarcastically. He climbed over the fence next, Mark and Phil helping him to stabilise himself. Cas sighed and looked around the dark car park, it felt still and lifeless despite there being 6 people there. He frowned as a shiver ran down his spine then quickly followed his friends. They followed Dean through the fire exit but again Cas stopped, though this time not because he was skeptical of their way of entry but because something had caught his eye. While it had been nearly a decade since he'd been here, he still remembered every aspect of the pizzeria and the small pathway in the bushes wasn't one of the things he remembered seeing. He eyed it curiously and moved to walk towards it.

"Cas?" A voice pulled him from his concentration. "What is it?" Cas turned to see that it was Dan speaking to him. Despite all of them growing up in and around Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, the group often turned to Cas when it came to facts and finer details about the establishment and the animatronics and they have always trusted what Cas has said about it, so when he 'spaced out' or seemed lost in thought when the establishment was blatantly involved, they were inclined to listen.

"That pathway, in the hedge, it wasn't there before." Cas said absently.

"What pathway?" Mark asked. They walked back out of the building. Cas turned on his torch to shine on the gap in the foliage.

"That pathway." Cas said. They scowled through the darkness to try and see what Cas was seeing.

"Do you want to investigate?" Charlie asked. They knew that they'd have to follow Cas' lead if they wanted their curiosity to be satisfied. Cas nodded then started to move forward, not looking to see if his friends were following him. He climbed the fence again without a word and inched towards the gap in the bushes.

"It's not a pathway." Dean pointed out as they breached the treeline through the gap.

"Then what is it?" Cas asked defensively. They stopped and turned to look at the gap they just walked through.

"Something was dragged through here." Dean said, pointing to the drag marks in the mud and the folded down branches. "It wasn't big whatever it was."

"It doesn't look fresh either." Charlie observed. Dean nodded in agreement and took the lead again, following the faint trails in the mud. It didn't take them long to break through the trees again and come across a small clearing.

"They lead here?" Dan asked. Dean frowned and nodded, looking around the small area. Cas walked forward confused, shining his flashlight ahead of him. He shuffled forward, heading to the centre of the clearing when he tripped. Dean rushed forward to help Cas up then backed up with him. Everyone shone their lights where Cas fell and were surprised to find a slight lip in the soil. Cas frowned and followed the line until he came to a corner.

"Hey, Mark stand here." Cas muttered pointing at his feet. He continued past the corner, following the lip until he came across another corner. "Dean stand here." Then he carried on. "Phil stand here." He ignored the lip after the third corner, instead he went back to where Mark was stood to follow the lip from there. "Dan stand here." Then he stood back and his eyes widened. Mark and Dan and Phil and Dean were stood about a foot and a half to two feet away from each other while Dan and Phil and Dean and Mark were about 5 feet apart.

"What is it?" Charlie asked, trying to see what Cas was seeing.

"Something is buried here." Cas explained, gesturing to the mound in the mud.

"Let's dig it up, there could be money or something." Mark suggested excitedly. The others laughed at him quietly. They all got down on their knees, dropped their torches and began digging with their hands.

"Wait, I've got something." Cas exclaimed after 5 minutes. Everyone stopped and grabbed their flash lights, turning the light to Cas. He pulled at the object in his hands a few times before the dirt around it came loose and he could pull it out. He looked at it closely before throwing it down with a scream.

"What?! What is it?!" The others exclaimed in alarm. Cas placed his hand over his heart and took some deep breaths to calm down. They scrambled over to him to make sure he was ok, Dean slid down on his knees next to the younger boy.

"This is not the scenario I pictured when I image you screaming." Dean mumbled to himself. Cas blushed and shoved Dean's shoulder with his gently.

"What is it?" Dan asked training his light on the object.

"It... It's a hip... bone." Cas stuttered, picking it up again.

"It's so small." Charlie observed.

"It's from a kid." Phil realised softly. "Keep digging, let's see if we can find more." Dean, Phil and Mark nodded and started with renewed vigor while Dan and Charlie stepped back with their torches shining on the hole. As they dug, they handed Cas anything they found so he could piece them together. The three other boys dug and searched through the dirt for more bones for hours before they started to come up with nothing.

"There's no more." Dean said as he dug. They turned to Cas and Charlie behind them to see what they'd found. "What have you got?" He asked.

"Four bodies." Cas said but his tone indicated it was a question.

"You're not sure?" Phil asked. Cas and Charlie stood with the others.

"There's 4 hip bones, 8 arms and hands and 8 legs and feet. Which suggests 4 bodies." Charlie said, gesturing to the bones to illustrate her point.

"But...?" Mark asked, sensing her hesitation.

"There's no spines, no ribs, no collarbones, no heads." Cas elaborated. They looked down at the bones confused. "If these are the kids that my dad was talking about they shouldn't be just bones at the moment, they should still have skin, muscles. But they coincide with what my dad told me."

"Your dad told you what happened?" Dan asked.

"Told me 4 more kids went missing and, at some point, another kid died due to 'springlock failure'. Seems like I was right, 5 more dead kids hanging over our heads." Cas muttered bitterly.

"5 more?" Mark asked.

"10 years, Mark. I'm not betting that my brother is alive. What's to say he isn't one of these?" Cas answered angrily.

"They're too big, Cas. 6 at least." Charlie insisted. "Eli and Jimmy were 2 and 3, there's no way it's them." Cas shook his head.

"It doesn't matter if they aren't them specifically, they're dead! Why is nobody else seeing that?" Cas cried. Dan shook his head and turned away, he knew that, logically, Cas was correct but he couldn't help but hope that his friend was wrong.

"For fuck sake, Cas, can't you a least be a little optimist?! You have no proof that Eli and Jimmy are dead. These kids were the ones your dad was talking about, that's all." Dan challenged, tears in his eyes. "You always do this, always. Why can't you just believe that they're alive?!" Phil stepped to Dan and wrapped his arms around the other to comfort him, Dan relaxed into Phil's touch and let his tears fall.

"Because if I let myself hope for, 10 years, that they were alive, then it turned out that they were dead? I'd rather die than deal with that pain. At least this way, I'm protecting myself." Cas retorted softly, tears falling down his cheeks too. Dean placed his hand on Cas' shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Why are there only arms and legs? Where's the torsos? The heads? Why are they bones already?" Charlie asked after the boys fell into silence. They shook themselves out of the sadness of their lost brothers and turned back to the bodies before them.

"I don't know." Cas shrugged, wiping his eyes quickly. "But whoever did this had planned what he was going to do. He made a grave, he got the bodies down to bones."

"We can look into it more tomorrow, we've been out here for hours, it's late. We can come back tomorrow, look around Freddy's, see what we find." Phil reasoned. Dean nodded in agreement. They followed Dan and Phil out of the clearing and back around to the cars. Cas bid farewell to Charlie, Mark, Dan and Phil then slumped against his car.

"Cas? Do you want me to come with you?" Dean asked softly, his tone concerned. Cas started to shake his head but stopped to think about it. He didn't really want to be alone, not after what they found, not in his old house.

"Please." Cas whispered. Dean smiled at the younger boy and rested his hand on Cas' shoulder then turned to get into his car.

"I'll follow you back."


	3. A New-found Hope

"What do you think is going on?" Asked Dean as he watched Cas browsing the books on the shelves. Cas picked up a book and read the back. Dean sighed, shaking his head at Cas' lack of response then leant back on the couch.

"I think that whoever was in that Golden Bonnie suit on that day is to blame for all this." Cas eventually replied. He returned the book to the shelf and joined Dean on the couch, their legs touching. "They took Eli and Jimmy, and they killed those kids. But I think there's something more going on."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked. He turned to face Cas, resting his arm on the back of the couch.

"My dad, he waited until now to call me down here. He knew that I'd want to know if something like this happened but he waited like three years to tell me about the missing-well we found them now-but the missing kids. And the kid that died in the springlock accident was like 5 years ago. But he never told me anything, never even mentioned it." Cas explained. "I think he knows something."

"What do you think he knows?"

"I don't know, I think he's told me everything about the kids and the pizzeria but there's something else, I don't know." Cas sighed defeatedly. Dean curled his arm around Cas' neck and pulled the boy to his chest.

"It's alright, Cas." He mumbled into Cas' hair. Cas shook his head and moved it to the crook of Dean's neck. "Come on, it's nearly 3 am. Let's get you to bed." Dean whispered. Neither boy moved for a moment before Dean pressed a light kiss to the top of Cas' head and went to stand. "You in your old room?" Cas nodded and smiled to himself. When they were younger, they loved to come to Cas' house to play in his room, they loved that his dad had made so many hidden doors and toys. Dean followed Cas up the wooden stairs, smiling when he saw Cas' FredBear sat on the arm chair. Dean's smile faded when Cas' fingers glided over the dark wood of Elijah's door. Cas turned to Dean with open arms, presenting his old room to his friend. "Just as I remember." Dean muttered, looking around the room. Cas nodded and smirked. Dean walked to one of the cranks on the wall and turned it, looking up at the light where the bees and clouds circled and danced around it. A small smile came to his face as he watched them, his mind drifting back to when he was younger and did the same. He pushed another button and watched in the same childlike amazement as the ceiling lit up like the sky on a clear night. When he looked back to Cas, the younger boy was watching him fondly. Dean smiled at him but he saw the underlying sadness and confusion in Cas' eyes. So he stepped forward.

"Dean?" Cas asked softly. Dean shook his head and raised his hand to cup Cas' neck, his thumb rested gently on the boy's cheek.

"You won't know this because I've never told you, but I pray for Eli and Jimmy every night, I pray that we find them alive, I pray that wherever they are that they aren't in too much pain. I know that you prefer to think that they're dead but I think they're alive. I'm not saying that they're safe and well but I think they're alive." Dean started, his voice low and soft, "It's been 10 years, they would have found something by now if they were dead. I think that wherever they are, they're together, caring for each other. I just hope that the bastard who has them isn't hurting them too badly or they'll have me to deal with when we find them. And we will find them, I promise you. We're older now, we can look ourselves. But I promise you, we will find them." Cas smiled sadly as tears slipped down his face silently. Dean wiped them away with his thumb and returned the smile. "I'll be downstairs." Dean murmured. Then he turned and left the room without another word. Cas smiled after him but he missed the warmth of Dean's hand on his skin.

Dean picked the soft bear up off the chair and held in his hands. It was fairly large considering it was made for a child that was smaller than average. Dean chuckled to himself and placed it down carefully. He wandered into the kitchen and looked at the papers on the table. They were blueprints. "Facial recognition?" Dean read. He looked at the blueprints, they looked like the original animatronics but more plastic. "Toy Chica is curvy, damn." He muttered to himself with a huff of laughter. "Thought Bonnie was a dude." He said as he looked over them. He laid the papers back on the table then moved to the back window. He looked out into the dark, eyeing the trees.

For a moment, a split second, he could have sworn he saw a pair of silver eyes staring straight at him.

\----

Cas crept down the stairs the next morning so he wouldn't wake Dean up but found the boy was already awake, sat on his phone.

"Morning, sunshine, we're meeting everyone for breakfast in 20 minutes." Dean greeted with a grin.

"We should get going then." Cas smiled. They drove to the cafe in their own cars, pulling in on either side of Phil's car.

They joined their friends at one of the few larger tables and quietly listened to their conversation until the waiter came to take their orders.

"So I looked into the events of Freddy's last night." Charlie started after the waiter had placed their food and drinks down in front of them and had left with a polite smile.

"What did you find?" Phil asked, cupping his hands around his mug. Charlie glanced around the cafe, the quiet clinking of cutlery and cups was consistent enough for their conversation to continue provided that their voices were low.

"There's no mention of the disappearances despite there being 6 of them. However, there is word on the springlock failure." Charlie explained lowly. She took a bite of her pain au chocolat as the others took in her words.

"So what did it say about the springlock accident?" Dan asked when she didn't elaborate further. Charlie raised her finger, telling them to wait while she pulled her phone out.

"It was at a birthday party and a group of teens shoved a kid in Golden Freddy's mouth and then the animatronics mouth snapped shut, biting off his frontal lobe. He died a few days later due to his injuries." Charlie read from her phone.

"What was the kid's name?" Cas asked. Charlie scrolled up and down until she found a name.

" _Things went sideways when Michael Afton and his friends tried to get Afton's little brother, Christopher, acquainted with the animatronic Golden Freddy Fazbear._ " Charlie read from the article.

"Afton..." Cas repeated. The name sounded familiar but he couldn't place it, he probably just saw it when the incident happened.

"There was also something that happened before Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria was a franchise. At a small restaurant called FredBear's Family Diner." Charlie continued after a moment.

"Something happened at FredBear's?!" Cas inquired in shock. Dean looked over at the other and his eyes softened. Dan patted Cas on the back gently as Charlie explained.

"Apparently a kid got stuck outside, some guy drove by and killed him, leaving his body outside." Cas shook his head and looked down at his empty plate.

6 kids. There were 6 dead children now.

"We still going back to Freddy's tonight?" Mark asked curiously, his tone was laced with excitement. Mark had always been the one that was the most interested in adventures while the others preferred to be inside watching films and TV, reading and playing video games.

"Yes, I think something more is happening there." Cas confirmed, he looked up at Dean for reassurance. Dean gave the boy a minute nod.

"What are we going to be looking for?" Dan asked leaning forward on his arms.

"I don't know." Cas shrugged honestly. Dan nodded in understanding.

"Have you asked your dad?" Phil asked.

"What am I going to ask him? 'Dad are you hiding something from me?' Anyway I don't know for sure, things just aren't adding up in my head." Cas said shaking his head. Phil nodded in understanding and looked over to Dean, who met his gaze. They had one of their usual silent conversations, discussing the well being of their younger friends through a look.

"You guys are such dads." Charlie commented offhandedly. Dan, Cas and Mark chuckled behind their hands as the older boys smiled at them fondly.

"We shouldn't go anywhere alone tonight, if Cas thinks that something more is going on we should make sure that there's always at least one person with us so that nothing too shady happens." Phil advised softly.

"Yeah, alright, dad." Mark joked. They knew that Phil was serious but after finding the bones they needed some light hearted conversations, even if it was regarding Freddy's. They knew when to be serious. They ordered more drinks and fell into happy conversation. The group was laughing loudly when Cas' phone began to ring.

_**'Gabriel' calling...** _

"Sorry, my cousin is calling." Cas apologised, moving away from the table. He answered the phone and walked outside. "Hey Gabe, what's up?"

 _"Hey Cassie, how's everything going?"_ Gabriel asked cheerily. Cas smiled to himself and looked through the window of the cafe to his friends, his smile softening when his eyes fell on Dean.

"It's alright. Spoke to dad yesterday." Cas said, his voice soft. Gabriel hummed over the phone.

 _"Yeah, about your dad."_ Gabriel started.

"What?" Cas questioned cautiously.

 _"Well, Uncle Chuck messaged me the other day, when you were driving down to Kansas."_ Gabriel replied. _"He asked me for your bank details."_

"What?! Why does he need my bank details?" Cas asked.

 _"He said something about having to send you some money. He didn't go into detail."_ Gabriel recalled. Cas sighed and watched his friends through the window again. Dean looked over and caught Cas' eyes. The older boy gave him a small smile before he turned his attention to his friends.

"Ok, thank you, Gabe." Cas murmured distantly. Gabriel said something to the younger boy but Cas wasn't listening, he was lost in his own head.

 _"I'll call you soon, Cassie. I love you."_ Cas heard as he tuned back in. Cas replied quietly and looked down at his phone as Gabriel hung up. He turned to look out at the parking lot, his eyes surveying the distant tree line where he knew Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria was hidden away. What was going on?

Cas sighed to himself and turned back to the cafe. He could feel that whatever was going on was much bigger than it seemed, it could badly affect a lot of people. But he also felt that they needed to be the ones to figure it out.

"Everything alright?" Phil asked as Cas retook his place at their table. The others fell silent, waiting for the younger man to speak.

"My dad, he asked Gabriel for my bank details, so he could send me some money." Cas said, still lost in his mind, replaying the conversation and the million thoughts that went with it.

"Maybe he's paying you for some of the accounting you do for Freddy's." Charlie said, though it came out more as a question than a statement.

"Yeah, once you got into high school you were always helping with money and stuff." Dean recalled. Cas shook his head, scowling off into the distance.

"He's paid me all of it, I did pay roll, my own included. I got the amount he was required to give me." Cas said, his eyes slowly focusing back on his friends, his family.

"Perhaps he feels that he didn't help you enough when you left." Dean commented. Cas' brow furrowed as he remembered the day he moved out.

_"Angel, I don't think this is necessary." Chuck said from his place outside Cas' room._

_"I do, Gabe said that he's be happy to have me move in with him and he's sorted out a school for me." Cas replied as he packed his final bag._

_"Castiel, please rethink this, all of your friends are here. Dean's going to miss you if you just move to a different state, as are all of your other friends. I'm not the only one who needs you here." Chuck's pleas' were getting desperate. "Elijah needs you here." Cas shoved his bag shut and flung it over his shoulder._

_"He's dead, dad, he doesn't need me here. Dean said he'd come and see me, I'll come back to see them and you at the holidays. The sooner you realise that Elijah isn't coming back the better, I've realised that and I'm moving on." Cas snapped. Chuck rubbed his hand over his face and sighed._

_"You're not moving on, Castiel! You're running away. You're lashing out at me because you miss him. You're only 10, it's ok to say that you miss your brother, I do too. And I sure as hell don't need you to leave me as well. You don't need to keep acting older than you are, angel." Chuck argued._

_"I'm going to see Dean, Phil and Dan before Gabriel picks me up. Mark and Charlie are on a school trip but they know. I have my phone and I'll text them and you everyday." Cas said heading towards the door. "Look, dad, this is how I'm coping, I can't be here knowing that Jimmy and Eli got taken because we weren't watching them. You need to find a way to deal too, please." Cas explained then he stepped forward to give his father a hug. "I love you, daddy." He muttered._

_"I love you, my little angel."_

"No, Gabe assured him that he didn't need to pay for anything to do with that." Cas replied. Dean nodded.

"So what's the plan?" Mark asked. Cas frowned and looked around the table at the worried faces staring back at him, his eyes eventually landing on Dan. The other boy looked sad but there was hope in his eyes, there was always hope in his eyes.

"We need to go back to Freddy's, see if we can find anything."

\----

An overwhelming sense of foreboding fell on Cas as he hopped over the playground fence to follow the drag marks once again. His friends were due to get to Freddy's soon but he had arrived early to investigate the grave sight once again without distraction.

It was light for now, the clearing was more visible. The bones were still laid out next to their grave, anatomically correct aside from the missing torsos and heads. Cas dropped his backpack to the floor and knelt in front of the bones, he opened his bag and pulled out a pen, some note-cards and a tape measure. He took a deep breath then leant forward and measured the femur of the first child, the one closest to the grave. He multiplied the number he got by four then wrote the number on a note-card, laying the card underneath the bones. He repeated the process with the other three children then sat back to work out their ages.

"Boy, 6 or 7." Cas muttered pointing to the first set of bones. "Boy, 5 or 6." He muttered to the second set. "Girl, 4 or 5." The third set. "Boy, 7 or 8." The fourth set. "Not Jimmy or Eli." He sighed, falling back onto his feet. He wrote his findings under the heights on the note-cards then sat back to look at them, he impulsively took a picture of the bones and note-cards, dropping his arms once he was satisfied.

His eyes drifted to the grave, it wasn't evenly dug up due to them having to dig the bones out with their hands, but, in the low light of the evening, he could easily see the outline that the killer had dug out. The grave was neat, the edges straight. The killer had planned to kill these kids, if the grave wasn't evidence for that, then the fact that the kids were clean bones already was, clean bones. Cas ran his hand over his face, this was so much more complicated that he had thought.

With a quick look at his phone, he hopped up and shoved his blank note-cards, pens and tape measure back into his bag then hurried back around to the front of the restaurant.

"Cas?" Mark called as he jogged towards their cars. Cas waved and joined his friends on the far end of the car park.

"Hi guys." Cas greeted them with a tight smile, his mind was racing. Dean looked at the younger boy and frowned, meeting Phil's eyes.

"Where were you?" Dan asked, his eyes slipping behind Cas to gaze through the building to look at where the clearing would be.

"I was looking over the bodies again and I figured out the kids' ages." Cas replied quickly, his words stumbling out excitedly. His friends looked at him confused but stayed silent to allow the younger to continue. "I realised that we could figure out the age of the bodies by their skeletons."

"And you did that? But we're missing the rest of the body." Mark said. Cas shook his head, pulling out his phone so he could show them the picture.

"You don't need the whole body to work out the height, you just need the femur and national averages." Cas protested as the phone got passed around. "They're definitely not Jimmy or Eli." Cas couldn't explain it but, being back in Lawrence, being back with his friends, back with more knowledge than he had 10 years ago, he was hopeful. Hopeful that he'd finally know what happened to his brother or hopeful that his brother was still alive, he didn't know. But he had something that resembled hope. Dan turned his eyes to the trees behind the building and a small smile played at his lips when they flicked back to Cas.

"So we know they're the kids that Golden Bonnie took, we know that the Afton kid died in hospital, that's the 5 kids accounted for." Phil said, handing Cas' phone back to him.

"Except we don't know what happened to the rest of the kids' bodies or what happened to Jimmy or Eli." Dean added. Cas sighed and looked up at the dark building. He pulled out his torch and flicked it on.

"So let's find out."

The group hesitantly made their way towards the back of the pizzeria, hopping the fence and stepping through the fire exit. It was dark in the pizzeria due to the windows being boarded up.

"Dean." Phil muttered. Dean moved from Cas' side to the other boy, who was stood not too far from the rest of the group. "There's no light." He whispered.

"Yeah, Phil, the windows are boarded up." Dean retorted. Phil shook his head, glancing at the other's to make sure they weren't listening before he continued.

"But we didn't fix the board on the window we came through." Phil insisted. Dean turned to the arcade room, the door was open but no light was coming through as it had been before.

"Then who did?" Dean asked. "Guys stay here, Phil and I need to check something." Dean called back. The younger members of the group nodded, their eyes surveying the dark showroom. Dean and Phil moved into the arcade and quickly found the window they had originally entered through. Dean pushed against it as hard as he could, Phil quickly joined him to see if they could get it to move but it just creaked.

"It's been replaced." Phil said, dropping his hands and pulling his flashlight out of his pocket. Phil turned his torch on so they could see the area.

"Whoever replaced the board, cleaned up the mud we'd dragged in too." Dean observed.

"Maybe it's the same person that had opened the window in the first place?" Phil guessed. Dean hummed.

"I think we should stay in groups of three, just to be safe." Dean murmured, shining his torch around the room. Phil agreed then lead them back out of the room. "Phil and I decided that, if we are going to split up, we need to always be in groups of 3, no less." Dean announced when they joined back with the others. The younger teens nodded, Cas and Dan shuffled towards their best friends, not noticing the knowing smiles from Mark and Charlie.

"Are all of your phones charged?" Phil asked. Everyone checked then nodded. "Ok, Cas were do you want us?"

"I want to check my dad's office and the Golden animatronics room, so we'll stay in this section. See if you can find anything down the staff only corridor." Cas answered after a moment of thought.

"Who's going with who?" Dan asked.

"I'll go with Cas and Dean." Mark piped up excitedly. Dean and Phil shook their heads fondly at the boy. Phil took Dan and Charlie's arms to lead them through the heavy swinging doors that lead to the kitchen, storage rooms and the security guard's office. "I'm glad we weren't around when your dad introduced these." Mark commented, looking over the newer looking animatronics that were stood against the wall next to Chuck's office.

"I saw the blueprints for those in Cas' house, they've got facial recognition and are connected with criminal databases. I think they walked around too." Dean added, joining Mark by the toy animatronics.

"Yeah, dad thought that adding the facial recognition thing would ease parents back into trusting Freddy's. And I guess it worked until someone used Golden Bonnie to kill more kids." Cas said. He, of course, had seen the toy animatronics before, when they were being built but, now, they looked different, their eyes looked dull and empty.

"Bonnie doesn't even look like Bonnie." Mark said looking between Bonnie on stage and the toy Bonnie he was stood next to.

"I've always preferred the original versions." Cas agreed. Freddy, Bonnie and Chica looked the same as ever, to Cas they looked friendly and familiar but, like the toy animatronics, there was something about their eyes. They seemed to be watching their every move, calculating everything. "Let's go look at the Golden animatronics." Cas mumbled, his eyes not moving from the animatronics on the stage. He felt someone take his hand and start to pull him away, he followed the hand that was clasping his up until his eyes met green. Dean was looking at the younger boy with concern in his eyes. Cas shook his head and dragged Dean towards the Golden animatronics' room by the hand, listening for Mark's footsteps following them.

Golden Freddy and Golden Bonnie were in animatronic mode and that much was obvious. Cas reluctantly released Dean's hand so he could approach the Golden animatronics; while he had feelings of hatred towards the Golden Bonnie, because he knew that he was used to kidnap his brother and his best friend's brother, the Golden suits were the first large animatronics his father made, they had been at Fredbear's Family Diner, they'd always been there for as long as he could remember. He hesitantly wandered behind the animatronics and opened Golden Bonnie's back.

"What is it, Cas?" Mark asked, moving past Dean to see what Cas was looking at. Cas pointed into the suit, gesturing to the mechanics inside. "That's how they wore it." Mark exclaimed excitedly. Cas chuckled at the boy and stepped closer to the animatronic. Dean moved around to stand behind the younger boys so that he could look at the mechanics over the boys' heads. He raised torch to shine it on the animatronic. "Erm, Cas? What's that?" Mark asked hesitantly, pointing to the brown stains on the metal. Cas leant forward to look at the stains then turned his eyes to Dean.

"What is it?" Dean asked.

"I think it's blood." Cas whispered. Dean frowned and leaned in closer to observe the stains.

"No-one ever believed us." He murmured absently. Cas looked at the older boy, his face scrunched up in confusion. Mark did the same.

"What?" Cas asked.

"No-one ever believed us." Dean repeated louder. "We always told people that Golden Bonnie took Jimmy and Eli but no-one ever believed us."

"And?!" Cas huffed impatiently. Dean scowled at the younger boy.

"And we have proof that someone was in here, someone was controlling it. That blood is old, someone did use the Golden Bonnie suit to take them and the other kids. But how did no-one else see a massive animatronic bunny wandering around? Our parents knew that he wasn't supposed to be in suit mode because of whatever happened at FredBear's. But we saw him, no-one else did, none of the other kids saw him. Then, years later, kids are saying that they saw Golden Bonnie near the kids we found, all of a sudden people were seeing him. That means we definitely didn't make it up, we definitely did see him on that day." Dean implored. Cas' mouth dropped open in a surprise, his eyes turning back to the animatronic in front of them.

"So is the blood from the guy who took the kids, or from a kid?" Mark questioned.

"It must be from the guy who killed the kids." Cas decided. "There are only about 6 or 7 people, including me and my dad, who know how to safely operate the springlocks. But there are environmental factors that could have been forgotten when focus is on not being caught and keeping a child from crying out." Cas explained thoughtfully. Dean nodded then moved around to Golden Freddy. He stood up on his tip-toes to look into the bear's mouth, he'd read the article about what happened to the Afton kid.

"FredBear's mouth is clean." Dean commented. Cas frowned, observing the Golden Bonnie suit again. It was worn down, the fur had been rubbed away in places, some of the metal parts were showing on the surface. Whereas, Golden Freddy was as he had always been, how all of the other animatronics had always been. "More proof that he's definitely been used." Dean said. Mark scowled at the Golden animatronics and stepped backwards, his eyes flicking back and forth between each one. "What is it?" Dean asked once he noticed Mark backing up.

"Golden Bonnie isn't in the right place." He muttered, gesturing towards the stage. Below the Golden Bonnie animatronic was an area of disturbed dust.

"He's been moved recently." Dean said.

"Do you think he's being used to kill more kids?" Mark asked, inching closer to Dean.

"People would notice a massive animatronic bunny wandering around now." Cas answered. Dean nodded in understanding but observed the Golden Bonnie's feet and the area around them. He leant down and swiped his index finger through the displaced dust.

"He's been moved really recently." He realised. "Like _really_ recently."

"Where have they been wearing it though?" Mark asked, shuffling closer to Dean again. Cas followed Mark and looked over Dean's shoulder at the anomalies in the dust.

"Here? For nostalgic purposes?" Dean suggested, standing again. Cas' hand curled around Dean's forearm as his eyes watched the animatronic warily.

"I'd like to check my father's office now." Cas said to Dean softly. Dean looked into Cas' eyes and saw the fear there.

"Ok, ok, come on." Dean murmured. Cas lead them back through the showroom, keeping his eyes on the floor. Suddenly, just as they reached the office door, all of the lights flickered on and Dean's phone rang. "Phil? Was that you?" He asked after answering it and putting it on speaker.

_Yeah, we found the security guard's office and all the electric and gas and water controls are in here. And we got all of the security camera's up and running. I'm thinking that if we can keep them running, even if the lights are off, then we might be able to see if the guy who killed the kids comes back here._

"We think he does keep coming back, the Golden Bonnie has been moved." Dean added.

_We'll be able to see what he does when he's here._

"Good plan, we're just going to look in Chuck's office then I think we should get gone, it's getting late. We can come back in a few days to check the cameras." Dean said. There was some muffled discussion on the other end of the line before Phil spoke again.

_Charlie said that she'll do some computer thing to the camera's system so that it will record and will stream to her laptop._

"Ok, we'll regroup by the cars." Phil made a sound of agreement then hung up. "Let's go and check this out." They pushed the door open and stepped into the room, Cas had only been in there a handful of times but it was just as he remembered. The desk was organised chaos, the bookshelves were still full and there was even a mug of moldy coffee on the coaster.

Cas approached the desk and started to move the papers around while Mark looked over the bookcase and Dean sat in one of the guest chairs. He set some of his father's letters to the side and gathered some of the establishments financial papers together, him moving these papers aside revealed some more blueprints. He pulled them out and laid them out on the desk.

"Security puppet." Dean read aloud. "It's from FredBear's Diner." He observed, reading the date and location from the corner of the paper.

"I remember this." Cas remarked excitedly. "It used to sit in the corner by the door." Dean smiled at his best friend fondly and turned another blueprint around to face him.

"What about this one?" Dean asked. He was talking about a newer animatronic that looked like Freddy but more plastic and it looked... wrong.

"No, that... that's not my dad's work." Cas said after a moment. Mark turned his gaze away from the books and looked at the blueprint too.

"It looks like the other Freddy's." Mark commented. Cas shook his head and pointed to the face of the blueprint.

"What would the purpose of having a Freddy with an opening face-plate be?" Cas pointed out.

"Funtime Freddy, part of the new Funtime animatronics." Mark read out. Cas frowned and shrugged when the other two looked at him expectantly.

"Dad has never said anything about designing more animatronics. And these aren't by my dad." Cas said. Dean frowned and looked over the blueprint again.

"It looks like the ones I found in your house, Cas." Dean said, looking up at Cas, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I've been around my dad's designs and animatronics all my life, I know if it's his work or not." Cas argued. Dean nodded in agreement and then frowned.

"There must be more of them though, it says that it's _part_ of the new Funtime animatronics." Dean added after a moment. Cas scowled at the words on the paper then shuffled through the others quickly.

"There's none here, just the security puppet." Cas said eventually. Mark shrugged and moved towards the door. "You ok, Mark?"

"Not particularly. Can we go?" Mark asked, looking at Dean, knowing that even if Cas said that he wanted them to stay and look around more that it would ultimately be Dean's decision as to whether they left or not.

"Sure, leave that blueprint on the top and let's go." Dean decided. Cas sighed a heavy sigh but did as he was told then followed Dean and Mark back out to the parking lot. Cas looked back towards the boarded pizzeria, almost disappointed that they hadn't found anything interesting.

They stood next to Dean's car, staying close together as the sky was dark and covered in clouds so not even the moon was lighting the parking lot. Cas' eyes flicked back and forth over the shadowed woods, he could feel someone... something staring at him but he didn't know where it was coming from, whether it was coming from between the trees or through the boarded windows of Freddy's. Mark seemed happy to be out of the pizzeria, away from the animatronics, while Dean was focused on his phone.

"I've told the others that we're waiting for them out here." Dean said, his voice was low though. The younger boys nodded in acknowledgement and leant cautiously against Dean's car. Dean watched the youngest of the three looking around nervously. "You alright, Cas?"

"Erm, yeah. I'm fine." Cas replied but he knew that neither of his friends were convinced by his answer. His heart was beating hard against his ribs, and he could feel his hands shaking by his side. "We should go back to my house when the others come out." Cas decided after a moment.

It's a weird feeling, when you feel like you're being watched; some people always feel like they're being watched even when they know they're alone, they learn to live with it, they learn to live with the paranoia of having the invisible eyes on them. Living with it doesn't mean they're comfortable with it, it just means that constant checks over their shoulder becomes instinctual, a reflex. However, it's always a weird feeling. It's like someone is standing behind you, like someone is stood around the corner always glancing at you when you turn away, like someone standing in the dark... just watching. It's like the intensity of the stare resonates through you; your heart reacts, your brain spikes, you can feel the small doses of adrenaline, you're ready for whatever they're waiting for but you're not. Because no-one's there.

Cas has never been one of the people who always feel like they're being watched, which was why, when he got the feeling, it was overwhelming and he didn't want to be alone. He wanted the protection of his older friends, he wanted to feel safe with the older boys. Dean looked at the boy suspiciously but nodded.

"Ok, I'll let Phil know when they get out here." Dean murmured. Cas met Dean's gaze, letting the older boy see the fear in his eyes. The older teen wordlessly pulled Cas into his arms, to try to protect him from whatever he was afraid of. Mark stepped closer to the two, he liked the adventure until real danger presented itself. They all breathed a sigh of relief when they heard three sets of footsteps jogging towards them.

"I got the security cameras linked up and streaming, they're recording now." Charlie said excitedly when they reached their friends.

"Let's go and set up at Cas' house." Dean suggested. He didn't mention in front of everyone that Cas was scared, he knew the repercussions of such an announcement.

"Yeah, that can be our control centre." Charlie babbled. They all climbed into the cars they came in and followed Cas to his childhood home.

Cas felt safer in his old home now that he was surrounded by his friends, they'd always been close even after Cas moved away. Charlie was rambling about where they could set up their control centre for their 'investigation'.

"I think we could set everything up on the kitchen island. But I need to get my equipment from my house." Charlie decided. Dean and Phil had a silent conversation then turned to the group.

"Mark, go with her. Don't leave her alone." Phil said firmly. "I know we keep saying it but while we're doing this, while we're investigating Freddy's, no-one is going anywhere alone. I'm not overly comfortable with us going anywhere in two's but there's only so much I can control. Let's just try and not have history repeat itself, alright?" The younger members of the group nodded seriously, obediently. Dean and Phil were the goofiest of the group, always joking around with smiles on their faces, always trying to make their friends laugh, so when they were both serious and straight-faced, the other's knew to be serious too, especially when it came to their safety.

Mark threw his arm over Charlie's shoulder with a grin. Charlie chuckled at her friend and walked to her truck so they could get her equipment.

"Phil, help me clear these paper's off the table." Dean asked, already starting to tidy the papers. Cas and Dan sat down on the sofa, watching their best friends.

"I think we're going to find them." Cas commented after a moment of them watching their elders silently. Dan's head snapped towards Cas in surprise.

"What?" He asked. His friend had always been pessimistic about their brothers, he'd always said that they were dead.

"I feel like we're going to find Jimmy and Eli." Cas reiterated. "I'm not saying that I suddenly think they're alive and well but I think we're going to find them and I feel hope, hope that they are alive. I haven't had hope that they're alive since the first month after they'd been taken." Dan's eyes were wide with shock.

"What?... How?... What's changed your mind?" Dan asked. He was struggling to fathom the fact that his best friend was finally seeing it his way, that he finally had some hope in his eyes too.

"Dean said something to me, he said that he believes that they're alive, he doesn't think they're safe and sound but he thinks they're together somewhere. He said that now we're older we can look ourselves and that just lit something in me. Knowing that we can investigate on our own, however we deem fit, just makes me have more faith, in us and in them. And, while I now have hope that we're going to find them alive, I'm terrified that we're going to find their bones or, worse, that we're going to find their bodies, that we were just slightly too late." Cas explained. Dan bit his lip to stop it trembling and he gave the other a tight but meaningful smile before he pulled the other boy into a hug.

"Hey Cas, what does this door go to?" Phil asked from the kitchen. The older boy was pointing towards a door next to the stairs, it was hidden from view but Cas knew what he was pointing to. Phil knew it wasn't the garage because it was on the wrong side of the house and it was almost under the stairs.

"It goes to dad's workshop." Cas answered. He stood and approached the door, aware of the other's following him. He pushed the door open and quickly flicked on the light to flush out the darkness. He gestured for his friends to follow him as he stepped over the threshold of the room.

The worktops were covered in designs and blueprints, metal parts and springlocks, even unfinished animatronics. Chuck's tools were meticulously hung on the walls, neatly out of the way of the organised chaos on the worktops. Cas smiled fondly at the other three looking around the room with awestruck faces.

"That was my desk." Cas said softly when he saw Dan bending down to run his fingers gently over the short wooden desk. Dan smirked at his friend and flicked through the drawings on Cas' desk.

"What's this door?" Phil questioned. Cas chuckled and answered without looking away from Dan.

"What is it with you and doors?" Cas heard Phil take a few steps then stop again.

"Well, this one seems to be a secret door." Cas turned around with a frown. Sure enough, Phil was investigating part of the wall that didn't quite fit; the room didn't have any windows and the walls were decorated with wooden boards. There was a barely distinguishable difference in the gap where Phil was pointing and the other boards in the room, and, as Cas stood on Phil's right, he noticed the slight draught (draft) coming through the wall.

Phil swallowed thickly and took a deep breath once the others had gathered around the door, he wedged his fingers into the gap ready to open it. He looked at each of his friends individually to gain confidence before opening it; Dean reached behind Dan and patted Phil on the shoulder and left his hand there, Dan snuck one hand into Phil's and held on tightly while his other hand grasped Dean's shirt, and Cas gripped onto Phil's shirt, holding it tightly. Once all of them had some form of anchor on each other, he slowly opened the door after another moment of hesitation.

"What the heck."


End file.
